By Maria Merola אריאל© Copyright Double Portion Inheritance, September 2004
The prophet YirmeYaHuW (Jeremiah) foretold of the restoration of the twelve tribes of Yisra’el in the last days. He described this time as “the end of punishment” for all twelve tribes for their idolatry. But he also described this as a time of restoration after Yisra’el had been chastised and scattered to the nations. Just as Ya’aqob (Jacob) himself had to go through his own time of trouble for his sins, there came a time when he “wrestled with a man all night long” and by the morning he had declared “I have seen Elohiym face to face and now my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30).
Jacob was a slave in a foreigner’s house (his father-in-law Laban) and he had worked a total of fourteen years for his beloved wife Rachel and for Leah. He also agreed to work an additional 6 years for Laban’s cattle for a total of twenty years. By the end of those 20 years, he was ready to leave his father-in-law Laban and go to the place that YaHuWaH has promised to give him. We see in Genesis 31:3 that YaHuWaH commanded Jacob to go back to “the land of his fathers.”
And now the prophet Jeremiah is seeing that the House of Jacob (all twelve tribes) will be gathered back to their land again in the last days after they have been through their “time of trouble.”
YirmeYaHuW (Jeremiah) 30:
1 The word that came to YirmeYaHuW (Jeremiah) from YHWH, saying,
2 Thus speaks YHWH Elohiym of Yisra’el, saying, Write you all the words that I have spoken unto you in a book.
3 For, lo, the days come, says YHWH, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Yisra’el and YaHuW’dah (Judah), says YHWH: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
4 And these are the words that YHWH spoke concerning Yisra’el and concerning YaHuW’dah (Judah).
5 For thus says YHWH; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
6 Ask you now, and see whether a man does travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Ya’aqob’s (Jacob’s)trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
8 For it shall come to pass in that day, says YHWH of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:
9 But they shall serve YHWH their Elohiym, and Dawiyd (David) their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
10 Therefore fear you not, O my servant Ya’aqob, (Jacob) says YHWH; neither be dismayed, O Yisra’el: for,lo, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Ya’aqob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
11 For I am with you, says YHWH, to save you: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered you, yet I will not make a full end of you: but I will correct you in measure, and will not leave you altogether unpunished.
Daniel’s 70th Week
This same period described by the prophet Jeremiah as “Jacob’s time of trouble,” is also described in Daniel 12:1-2, where we are shown the same period that our Messiah spoke about in Matthew 24:21. The angel told Daniel that this “time of trouble” would be “such as never was since there was a nation.” This is very similar language to what YaHuW’shuwa said in Matthew 24:21 when he said that this “great tribulation” would be “such as was not since the beginning of the world.” We see this same 3 ½ year event described in three different ways: Jacob’s time of trouble, a time of trouble & great tribulation. We have been conditioned for a long time to believe that this is a 7- year period, but how can we be certain that it is only 3 ½ years? Where do we get the idea of a 7-year tribulation any way? It is taken from a mis-interpretation of Daniel 9:27 where many theologians have taught us to believe that this period called Daniel’s 70th Week is the same period known as “Jacob’s time of trouble.” Well, they are partially correct in the fact that this is indeed a 7-year period, but it is actually divided into two separate periods of 3 ½ years and a 2,000 year gap!
Back in the summer of 2004, I had become very perplexed over the identity of who the “he” is mentioned in Daniel 9:27. I had heard theologians over the years teach that this prophecy was speaking about a future “Antichrist” that would “confirm” some kind of “seven-year peace treaty” and thus would begin what is called “the great tribulation.” From this false premise, many have taught us all to believe that there is going to be an event in the last days called the “seven years of tribulation.” But as I began to search out the scriptures for this phrase “seven-year tribulation,” I discovered that it is no place in the entire Bible!
After much prayer and study over this one single verse, I came to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a “seven-year tribulation.” And once I realized that there is no scriptural support for a seven-year tribulation, that eliminated the erroneous belief in a “pre-tribulation rapture theory.” If there are only 3 ½ years left to go of Daniel’s 70th Week, this means that the idea of a “mid-tribulation” rapture theory also makes no sense.
In this study I aim to show that YaHuW’shuwa (Jesus) the Messiah is the one who “confirms” the covenant in Daniel 9:27, and not some future “Antichrist” as many theologians have falsely taught. Theologians who build their pre-tribulation rapture theory on the idea that there are seven years of tribulation, have led many people to believe in a “dispensationalist” rendering of the end-times. This false doctrine goes something like this:
“The Church is separate from Yisra’el, and thus the Church gets raptured at the beginning of a seven-year tribulation, leaving only the Jews and non-believers to suffer through the tribulation for seven years.”
Of course this belief goes against everything that our Messiah came to accomplish with regard to the “restoration of Yisra’el.” All Gentiles who join the faith of our Messiah are no longer considered “Gentiles” according to Ephesians 2:11-12, but they are considered “part of the commonwealth of Yisrael.” Hence there is no difference between Jew & Gentile in Messiah (Galatians 3:28), for both are called “the elect” according to the foreknowledge of the Father who are sprinkled with the blood and sanctified by the Spirit (1st Peter 1:1-2).
And so the question must be asked “where do theologians get the idea of a seven-year tribulation?” I had to ask myself this question back in 2004, and so I began to search out the scriptures for the answer, and to my surprise I found that all references to this period called “the great tribulation,” or what Jeremiah 30:7 calls “Jacob’s time of trouble” is only a period of “a time, times and a half times” (Daniel 12:7, Revelation 12:14).
In order to find out what this mysterious phrase means, we have to look up the Hebrew and the Greek words for “time.” In Daniel 12:6, Daniel asked the angel how long this “time of trouble” would last. The angel told Daniel that it would last for “a time, times and a half.”
The Hebrew word used here for “time” is as follows in the Hebrew Strong’s Concordance:
#4150 mow`ed: properly, an appointment, i.e. a fixed time or season; specifically, a festival; conventionally a year; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation; by extension, the place of meeting; also a signal (as appointed beforehand):--appointed (sign, time), (place of, solemn) assembly, congregation, (set, solemn) feast, (appointed, due) season, solemn(-ity), synagogue, (set) time (appointed).
As you can see the Hebrew word for “time” points to a feast or an appointed time.
But it can also mean “a year.”
And so going by this reasoning:
Time = 1 year
Times (plural) = 2 years
A half times = .05 years (six months)
Total = 3.5 years
Now let’s take a look at the Greek word for “time” in Revelation 12:14:
#2540. kairos kahee-ros’ of uncertain affinity; an occasion, i.e. set or proper time: always, opportunity, (convenient, due) season, (due, short, while) time, a while.
As you can see both the Hebrew and the Greek denote that this is for an appointed time or season---in other words during the Feasts of YaHuWaH!
The Apostle Sha’ul (Paul) uses this same terminology in 1st Thessalonians 5 when he refers to the “times and seasons” as being something that the set-apart ones are not to be ignorant of.
Further confirmation of this period of 3.5 years for the “time of trouble” is seen in Revelation 11:3 where “the two witnesses” are said to have a ministry that will last for “one thousand two hundred and sixty days” (1,260 days). On the biblical calendar of 360 days per year, that amounts to exactly 3.5 years!
1,260 days ÷ 30 days per month = 3.5
During this same period called “Jacob’s time of trouble” the Anti-Messiah will “speak blasphemies for forty two months” (Revelation 13:5).
42 X 30 days for each month = 1,260 days!
The Prophet Elijah Caused 3 ½ Years of “Trouble” for Yisra’el
The prophet EliYaHuW (Elijah) is the first one to cause “trouble” for Yisra’el when he prayed to YaHuWaH that they would not receive rain for 3 ½ years (1,260 days). Why did he pray this way? Yisra’el at that time was steeped in idolatry with Ba’al because of Queen Yeze’Baal (Jezebel) the foreign woman who married King Ahab.
Listen to what King Ahab accused him of:
1st Melakiym (Kings) 18:17And it came to pass, when Achab (Ahab) saw EliYaHuW (Elijah), that Achab (Ahab) said unto him, Are you he that troubles Yisra’el?
EliYaHuW responded back to King Achab:
1st Melakiym (Kings) 18:18 And he answered, I have not troubled Yisra’el; but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of YHWH, and you have followed Baalim.
This same period of 3.5 years was used when the prophet EliYaHuW (Elijah) prayed that Yisra’el would not receive rain as a sign of judgment:
Ya’aqob (James) 5:17 EliYaHuW (Elijah) was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
1st Melakiym (Kings) 17:1 And EliYaHuW (Elijah) the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Achab, (Ahab) As YHWH Elohiym of Yisra’el lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
1st Melakiym (Kings) 18:1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of YHWH came to EliYaHuW (Elijah) in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself unto Achab (Ahab); and I will send rain upon the earth.
Multiple Fulfillments of 3 ½ Years of Tribulation: History Repeats Itself
The first fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy of an Anti-Messiah leader reigning for 3 ½ years was in 167 B.C. when Antiochus IV persecuted the Jews for 3 ½ years from 167 B.C. until 164 B.C. Daniel 11:21-31 accurately details the reign of Antiochus IV over the House of YaHuW’dah (Judah) right up until the Maccabean revolt. During this 3 ½ year period, Antiochus desecrated the Temple of YaHuWaH and set up an abominable image of Zeus (Jupiter) in the Holy Place. He also enforced the sacrificing of pigs on the altar of sacrifice in the outer court, rendering the Temple unclean and unfit for worship to YaHuWaH. Daniel had seen in his vision that there would be 2,300 days until the sanctuary would be cleansed:
Daniyel (Daniel) 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
On December 25th 167 B.C., when Antiochus had set up an abominable image of the Greek god Zeus, in the Temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar, he then claimed that he had become “born-again” as a reincarnation of the pagan god Zeus, and thus claiming that his birthday was December 25th just like Nimrod and all of the other false Messiahs before him. Antiochus also claimed to be the physical manifestation of “God,” as he gave himself the title “Epiphanies” which means “God Manifest,” in Greek and it adds up to 666 in the Greek alpha-numeric system. This date of December 25th 167 B.C. began the 3 ½ year tribulation period for the YaHuW’diy (Jews) until the Maccabees revolted and cleansed the temple in 164 B.C.
If we count back 2,300 days from 164 B.C. (6.38 biblical years of 360 days), when the temple was cleansed and restored for worship to YaHuWaH, we come to the year when Antiochus Epiphanies began his persecution of the YaHuW’diy (Jews) in 171 B.C. However if the duration of time during which 2,300 daily sacrifices would ordinarily have been offered, (one at evening and one in the morning), as specified in Exodus 29:38-43, the actual time period involved is 1150 days, or slightly over three years. This, in fact, was the time of the Maccabean Tribulation, 167-164 B.C., at the end of which the sanctuary was “cleansed” by Judah Maccabees in his restoration of the evening and morning sacrifices (2nd Maccabees 10:1-5). It is from this event that the celebration of Chanukkah began and is also called the “Feast of Dedication” (John 10:22).
The second fulfillment of this prophecy happened under the leadership of another Anti-Messiah leader named Nero Caesar who persecuted many the followers of Messiah. On December 31st in 67 A.D., when the Roman armies under General Cestius, “took away the daily sacrifices” in Jerusalem which were being offered up to the Roman pagan gods, they withdrew their troops and went back to Rome. This was the time when the YaHuW’diy (Jews) should have paid attention to the prophecies of Daniel and our Messiah YaHuW’shuwa and fled the city of Jerusalem. Because exactly 1,290 days later, (Daniel 12:11) the same Roman armies returned under General Titus and destroyed the Temple on July 31st 70 A.D. Within 45 days after the destruction of the temple, up until September 14th 70 A.D., the Jewish religious system had come to an end. Those Yisra’elites who were “accounted worthy to escape” during those 3 ½ years of “tribulation” as YaHuW’shuwa had warned in Luke 21:36 returned 45 days later to find the city destroyed but they were alive and well because they heeded the warning of Messiah to escape just as Daniel had prophesied in Daniel 12:12, “Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the 1,335 days.”
From December 31st 67 A.D. until July 31st 70 A.D. was 1,290 days exactly, as Yah had given them ample warning through Daniel and YaHuW’shuwa to escape. Then from July 31st 70 A.D. when the Romans returned under Titus, another 45 days of total ruin and destruction came to Jerusalem as 225,000 Jews lost their lives in the war. And finally 76 months later or “2,300 days until the sanctuary shall be cleansed” (Daniel 8:14), on May 20th 73 A.D., when the Jewish government and all of the territories of Yisra’el were sold off. The stone built temple at Jerusalem, was then superseded by a “new living stone temple” as the Apostle Sha’ul (Paul) spoke of in Ephesians 2:19-22. He referred to the body of Messiah as the “holy temple” and the Apostle Kefa (Peter) called them “lively stones” (1st Peter 2:5).
This fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 of the sanctuary being cleansed, because Yah had replaced the physical temple and animal sacrifices (which never did atone for sin in the first place), with the living temple of the believer, “cleansed” with the blood of the Lamb and “sanctified” by the Holy Spirit.
I believe these prophecies in Daniel have a literal application as well as a prophetic long-term application. In the first two fulfillments of these prophecies, they were “literal” days as in 1,260 days, 1,290 days, 1,335 days and 2,300 days. In the second fulfillment of these prophecies, the “days” are interpreted as “years” according to Ezekiel 4:6.
Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in 334 B.C. bringing in the Greek Empire, and this began the beginning of the 2,300 years of Daniel’s prophecy in the 8th Chapter of the book of Daniel. When 2,300 “days” are rendered as years we can calculate exactly to the date from when the Grecian Empire took over Jerusalem until Yisra’el recaptured Jerusalem in the “Six Day War” in 1967. YaHuWaH had allowed them to be punished, but he then “cleansed the sanctuary” in Jerusalem from Heathen Rulers so that they could come back to their land to meet YaHuW’shuwa their Messiah at his second coming.
In the Babylonian Captivity of Yisra’el the word of YaHuWaH shows us that Yisra’el would be restored as a nation on May 14, 1948. Why is this date so significant? YaHuW’shuwa tells us in Luke 21:32 that this generation will not pass away before all these things are fulfilled. The generation that this scripture is referring to is the generation that was born when Yisra’el became a nation. This generation, born in 1948, will not pass away before the return of YaHuW’shuwa ha’Mashiyach.
The scriptures help to provides us with the date May 14, 1948. In Ezekiel 4:6 Yah instructed Ezekiel to lay on his side for 430 days, representing 430 years of iniquity upon Yisra’el. But He also promised that He will gather Yisra’el “out of all nations” and “bring them back into their land” (Ezekiel 36:24).
True to this prophecy, the people were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, in 606 B.C. (Daniel 1). The Babylonian Captivity lasted 70 years as prophesied in Jeremiah 25:11, ending in 536 B.C. (Ezra 1). At the conclusion of the Babylonian Captivity, 360 years remained of the 430 years prophesied by Ezekiel. But Yisra’el did not repent of their sins. Only 50,000 people returned at the end of the 70 years (Ezra 2:64-65). Most of Yisra’el chose not to return with Zerubbabel at that time. In Leviticus 26:18, Yah warned Yisra’el that if they continued in sin after their punishment, the punishment would be multiplied 7 times.
When the remaining 360 years is multiplied by 7, the punishment extends to 2,520 years. One half of 2,520 years is 1,260 years or “days.” Since Yah’s prophetic year is based upon a 360 day year (see Genesis 7:11, 7:24, 8:5; Revelation 12:6 and 12:14, as examples), 2,520 years of 360 days is 907,200 days. Based upon our solar calendar, this is 2,483 years, 9 months and 21 days. Adding this period to the date of the decree of King Cyrus discussed in Ezra 1, (457 B.C.) we come to the date of May 14, 1948, when Yisra’el was declared to be a nation once again. The exact same calculation can also apply to the captivity of Jerusalem. When the people were taken into captivity in 606 B.C., the city of Jerusalem was not then destroyed. Yisra’el’s captivity lasted 70 years which was completed in 536 B.C. However, 19 years into the Babylonian Captivity, in 587 B.C., Jerusalem was taken and the temple destroyed (2nd Kings 25). 70 years later, in 517 B.C., Daniel was given his vision of the “four beasts” or empires, (Daniel 8) and he was shown this period of 2,300 days, which was to begin with the Grecian Empire in 334 B.C. From the time of Daniel’s prophecy in 517 B.C. until Jerusalem was captured by Yisra’el once again on July 7, 1967 is exactly 2,520 biblical years or “days.” When we count backwards the converted solar years of 2,483 years, 9 months and 21 days to the date, of July 7, 1967 we come to the date of Daniel’s prophecy!
We can correlate the 19 year gap of Babylon taking Yisra’el captive in 606 B.C. until Jerusalem was taken in 587 B.C., and interestingly, if we add 19 years (19.27 converted into solar years), to May 14, 1948, we come to the exact date of June 7, 1967!
If all of these prophecies are literal and they still apply to present day Jerusalem and the modern State of Yisrael, why do so many people believe that these prophecies won’t be repeated again in the last days? We must realize that prophecy has many layers as we have a body, mind, spirit and emotions (soul). There are four aspects of our being and usually there are four layers of understanding scripture.
Once again in these last days the 3rd Jewish Temple will be rebuilt and I believe that this will mark the beginning of the prophetic time clock starting to “tick” again concerning the 490 years of Daniel 9:24-27. There have been 486.5 years already completed out of the 490 and there are only 3.5 years left of this prophecy. Once the Anti-Messiah will “take away the daily sacrifices” (Daniel 12:11) and he will set up the “abomination of desolation” in the holy place of the temple, there will once again be “great tribulation” as our Messiah foretold in Matthew 24:21.
This “final fulfillment” of 1,260 days or 3 ½ years during which the “man of sin” will sit in the temple of Elohiym is also confirmed by the Apostle Sha’ul (Paul) in 2nd Thessalonians 2:4.
Revelation 11:3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.
Meanwhile during this 1,260 day period of tribulation or “Jacob’s Trouble,” Yah will allow the “woman” (Yisra’el) to “escape” into the wilderness to be protected there under Yah’s hand:
Revelation 12:6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by Elohiym that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
In Yah’s prophetic time clock, he often uses “a day” for a “year”:
Yechezqel (Ezekiel) 4:5-6 For I have laid upon you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days,three hundred and ninety days: so shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Yisra’el. And when you hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of YaHuW’dah (Judah) forty days: I have appointed you each day for a year.
Yah was showing Yisra’el that for every Sabbath day that they had violated his covenant, he was going to punish them for one year.
If we use the formula of a day for a “year” from Ezekiel 4:6 we can arrive at a prophetic fulfillment of these “3 ½ years” or 1,260 days as being 1,260 years. From the year 538 A.D. when the Roman Catholic Church first officially became a nation and a church, until 1798 A.D, (when it ceased to be a state), was exactly 1,260 years! This prophecy of “a day for a year” in Ezekiel 4 was fulfilled on yet another level. Napoleon Bonaparte dethroned the papacy in 1798 and the papacy “suffered a deadly wound to the head.”
The Greek word for “anti” in scripture means “substitute” and the official title for each and every pope is “Substitute for Christ” or in Latin “Vicarious Filii Dei” (substitute for the son of God). Hence the title literally means “Antichrist!” Each and every pope wears a crown with this inscription and it adds up to 666 in the Latin alpha-numeric system! In Revelation 13:1 we are shown that the “beast has the name of blasphemy upon his heads...” This is none other than the Papacy who has the name of blasphemy “Substitute for the Son of God” or in Latin, “Vicarious Filii Dei” upon his heads!
Are you seeing a pattern yet? In each of the above scenarios, there is always a period of 1,260 literal days or years during which the false Messiah persecutes the people of Yah (tribulation) but in every case it ends with the evil leader being brought down and the righteous getting the victory. And so based on the patterns we have just seen, we can safely say that there is no precedence elsewhere in scripture for a “seven year” tribulation period. In Matthew 18:16, our Messiah told us that we need the witness of “two or three” in order to establish a matter. The same principle applies when trying to establish doctrine. We must have the “witness of two or three” elsewhere in scripture before we can build a doctrine out of one isolated verse. But we have no witnesses in scripture to support a seven year tribulation period at any time in history. But we have an overwhelming amount of evidence to support a tribulation of 1,260 days (3.5 years) from the past and pointing to the future.
In order to prove that Daniel 9:27 is foretelling about a future event of seven years of tribulation, we must find out who the subject is. We must find out who the identity of the “he” is in Daniel 9:27.
Now let’s look at the two verses below and tell me if you see a pattern:
Mark 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.
Daniyel (Daniel) 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
YaHuW’shuwa confirmed the one and only covenant made with Abraham during Passover week, and he confirmed it with “many” as he said the night before his crucifixion:
“…this is the blood of the new covenant shed for many” (Mark 14:24).
In the midst of Passover week (Wednesday or the 4th day of the week) when YaHuW’shuwa was crucified, and also in the midst of Daniel’s 70th week (7 years), he caused the daily sacrifice and the oblation to “cease” to be recognized by the Father in Heaven, as well as the annual Yom Kippur sacrifices. The evening and morning oblation “failed” to be “acceptable” and the yearly sacrifice failed to be “acceptable” on Yom Kippur each year for 40 years following his crucifixion until YaHuW’shuwa made the Jewish Temple desolate. Why did he make it desolate? You will see the reason why in the prophecy that follows.
YaHuW’shuwa is the one who prophesied over Jerusalem and said “behold your house is left to you desolate,” and so it was his prophetic word which was decreed over Jerusalem that brought them to desolation.
MatthithYaHuW (Matthew) 23:
37 O Yerushalayim, Yerushalayim, you that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
You will notice that the reason for their desolation is because they killed every single prophet that had been sent to them to include the ultimate betrayal of their own prophesied Messiah! It was exactly 40 years from YaHuW’shuwa’s death on the cross, until the Romans came with a flood and destroyed the city and the sanctuary (Daniel 9:26). It is our Messiah YaHuW’shuwa who will allow this desolation to continue right up until the CONSUMMATION.
What happens on a wedding night?
The married couple “consummates their marriage covenant!”
And so Jerusalem will continue to be desolate right up until the wedding night when YaHuW’shuwa consummates the marriage covenant with his bride!
What is determined against Jerusalem? “Desolation is determined!”
Desolation for Jerusalem has already been determined by YaHuW’shuwa and the prophets. The house of YaHuW’dah (Judah) crucified him and proclaimed “let his blood be on us.”
MattithYaHuW (Matthew) 27:25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
Luke 23:21 But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.
In the Hebrew Strong’s Concordance, the word for “cease” in Daniel 9:27 is as follows:
#7673 shabath shaw-bath’ a primitive root; to repose, i.e. desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causative, figurative or specific):--(cause to, let, make to) cease, celebrate, cause (make) to fail, keep (sabbath), suffer to be lacking, leave, put away (down), (make to) rest, rid, still, take away.
The word “cease” in Daniel 9:27 is synonymous with “fail, suffer to be lacking, rest” and it can also imply something that is “figurative” so we can see that YaHuW’shuwa’s death on the cross was meant to sanctify the altar in the temple thereby making the “evening and morning oblations” acceptable before YaHuWaH. But you see because the House of YaHuW’dah (Judah) and Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) did not recognize him as the Messiah, the daily sacrifices were no longer were “acceptable” to YaHuWaH. Hence, the evening and morning oblations “failed” in their purpose.
Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Explained
This prophecy begins in Daniel 9:24-27 with a 490 year period whereby the angel told Daniel that six things would happen:
1.) To finish the transgression.
2.) To make an end of sins.
3.) To make reconciliation for iniquity.
4.) To bring in everlasting righteousness.
5.) To seal up the vision and prophesy.
6.) To anoint the most holy.
The fulfillment of these six things is divided up into 4 time periods totaling 490 years.
490 years = 70 X 7
From these 490 years we see a period called:
62 weeks = 434 years
7 weeks = 49 years
1 week = 7 years divided in half by 3.5 years each by the phrase “in the midst of the week.”
Hence, there is a total of 4 separate and distinct periods for a total of 490 years. The fact that scripture treats these four periods as separate and distinct tells us that something takes place at each of these intervals.
From the time that the decree of King Cyrus was issued in 457 B.C. (Ezra 1:1-4, 2nd Chronicles 36:22-23) to allow the YaHuW’diy (Jews) to go back and rebuild their temple and city right up until the Messiah was revealed at his baptism or “unto Messiah the prince” was 483 years (Daniel 9:25).
62 weeks + 7 weeks = 69 weeks or 483 years.
In John 2:20, the Pharisees declared that it had taken 46 years to build the temple. But in reality it took 49 years total to build the temple because there was a 3-year gap in between where construction had ceased. That caused the temple construction to extend to 49 years and then from the time that Nehemiah built the walls that surrounded Jerusalem even “in troublous times” until “Messiah was cut off” was an additional 434 years (62 weeks). So there was a total of 483 years from “the going forth of the command to rebuild Jerusalem” until YaHuW’shuwa was revealed at his baptism as “the Messiah.”
If you take 483 years for the total amount of years beginning with 457 B.C. (when King Cyrus first issued this decree), right up until the angel told Daniel “unto Messiah the prince,” this takes us to when Messiah began his ministry in the fall of 27 A.D. It would take us to the year 26 A.D. if you do the math, but since we do not count the year “zero” and we skip to 1 A.D. following his birth in 3 B.C., it brings us to 27 A.D. when our Messiah was first revealed as the “prince” at the age of 30 years old (Luke 3:23).
The Hebrew term “Messiah the prince” in Daniel 9:25 is “Mashiyach Nagiyd.”
The word “mashiyach” is seen below:
#4899 mashiyach maw-shee-akh from 4886; anointed; usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint); specifically, the Messiah:--anointed, Messiah.
The word for “prince” is seen below:
#5057 nagiyd naw-gheed’ from 5046; a commander (as occupying the front), civil, military or religious; generally (abstractly, plural), honorable themes:--captain, chief, excellent thing, (chief) governor, leader, noble, prince, (chief) ruler.
The root word for this word prince (nagid) comes from another word “nagad”:
#5046 nagad naw-gad’ a primitive root; properly, to front, i.e. stand boldly out opposite; by implication (causatively), to manifest; figuratively, to announce (always by word of mouth to one present); specifically, to expose, predict, explain, praise:--bewray, certainly, certify, declare(-ing), messenger, plainly, profess, rehearse, report, shew (forth), speak, surely, tell, utter.
As you can see the Hebrew word “prince” is a leader but it comes from another root word: to manifest, to announce, and to declare!
When was YaHuW’shuwa first manifested before our eyes or announced to be the Messiah? We have three gospel accounts that tell us when he was revealed as “the anointed one.” Immediately following his baptism in the Jordan River, the disciples “announced” that they had found the Messiah:
YaHuW’chanon (John) 1:
40 One of the two which heard YaHuW’chanon (John) speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Shimone Kefa (Simon Peter)’s brother.
41 He first finds his own brother Simon, and says unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
We first see that he was baptized by John in the Jordan River, and then the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a dove. Then the Father’s voice spoke from heaven “this is my beloved son in whom am I well pleased” (Luke 3:22).
This was when he was first “anointed” or revealed as the Messiah! Then we have the disciples declaring “we have found the Messiah.” And then we have an explanation in Acts 10 showing that he was first anointed at his baptism:
Acts 10:
37 That word, I say, you know, which was published throughout all YaHuW’dah (Judaea), and began from Galilee, after the baptism which YaHuW’chanon (John) preached;
38 How Elohiym anointed YaHuW’shuwa of Nazareth with the Ruach ha’Kodesh (Holy Spirit) and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for Elohiym was with him.
And then 40 days after he emerged from the wilderness to fast and pray, he went into the temple to read the Isaiah 61 scroll on Yom Kippur. We know that this had to be Yom Kippur because the terminology “the acceptable year of YHWH” is used during the Day of Atonement. Listen to what he said:
Luke 4:
18 The Spirit of YHWH is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the Besowrah (gospel) to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of YHWH.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
What did he just declare? He just told us that he was the “anointed one” or the Mashiyach!
Now we can see that from the initial decree of King Cyrus allowing the Jews to go and rebuild Jerusalem (457 B.C.) until our Messiah was revealed at his baptism was 483 years!
49 years to build the temple + 434 years to build the city and the walls = 483 years which takes us to 27 A.D. in the fall at Messiah’s baptism, forty days before Yom Kippur.
This was at the beginning of his ministry!
This leaves only 7 years of Daniel’s Seventy Week prophecy:
490 years – 483 years = 7 years.
We know that YaHuW’shuwa’s ministry lasted 3.5 years and then he was “cut off.” This tells us that he was “cut off” during the middle of the last 7 years of this prophecy (after 3.5 years).
The Dual Nature of Messianic Prophecy Always Produces a Gap in History
*Examples of Historic Gaps in Biblical Prophecy
1.) The 2000 year gap of Joel confirmed by Keefa (Peter) on the day of Pentecost (Shabuoth).
2.) The early and latter rain of the Holy Spirit.
3.) The gap between the Feasts of Pentecost & and Trumpets.
4.) The preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom begins and ends
with what is called “the fullness of the Gentiles.”
5.) The Priests and the Ark preceded the people with a gap into the Promised Land.
Often times in prophecy, there is the immediate natural fulfillment, and later it’s parallel fulfillment concerning the spiritual. The dual nature of Messianic prophecy has caused the nation of Yisra’el to be blinded by the first appearance of Messiah who came as a “suffering servant.”
Few have seemingly pondered the question, “why did the Prophet Joel prophesy in four verses the beginning and end of the times of the Gentiles of which many call ‘the Church age’”?
Upon announcing the fulfillment of the 1st two verses of Joel’s prophecy on Pentecost (Shabuoth), Keefa (Peter) begins the first two verses as an explanation for the outpouring of the Spirit of Elohiym. The next two verses concluded with atmospheric judgments found in Revelation 6:12-17. When YaHuW’shuwa fulfilled the Feast of Shabuoth (Pentecost) by baptizing his disciples in fire, it marked the beginning of the “last days.”
At the end of this 2,000 year gap, at the last trump, and immediately after the atmospheric signs mentioned in Acts 2:18-19, YaHuW’shuwa gathers his elect (Matthew 24:28-31).
This 2,000 year gap between the prophetic fulfillment of the “Feast of Weeks” (Pentecost) & the “Feast of Trumpets” is when Messiah gathers his elect, and it marks the beginning of the end of this last “age” prior to the second coming of Messiah. On the Feast of Trumpets when the elect are gathered will mark the end of Daniel’s 70th Week (Daniel 9:24-27).
Messiah was cut off after 486.5 years out of the 490 years of Daniel’s 70 Week prophecy. The prophecy begins with King Cyrus’s initial decree in 457 B.C. If you subtract 457 from 490, (for the length of the prophecy) and you don’t count the year “zero,” you end up at 27 A.D. when Messiah began his 3.5 year ministry at his baptism.
His baptism was his “legal moment of death” because in Romans 6:4 baptism is a picture of death. YaHuW’chanon (John) was the Levitical High Priest who symbolically “killed the first goat” for Yom Kippur.
The Holy Spirit then led YaHuW’shuwa into the wilderness for 40 days fulfilling the pattern of the 2nd twin goat, (the scapegoat). Messiah “took the sins away” by going into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He overcame all temptation for sin in this act. He then emerged from the wilderness to read Isaiah 61 in the temple on Yom Kippur when he declared “the acceptable year of YHWH.” His final statement was “today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears.” But then something interesting happened.
Messiah did not finish the verse!
He read only half of this verse, and then he closed the scroll and said that he was fulfilling that verse at that time:
YeshaYaHuW (Isaiah) 61:
1 The Spirit of YHWH Elohiym is upon me; because YHWH has anointed me to preach good tidings (Besowrah) unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of YHWH, and the day of vengeance of our Elohiym; to comfort all that mourn;
Notice that he read up to the part that says “to proclaim the acceptable year of YHWH” and then he stops! Why?
The next part of this verse “and the day of vengeance of our Elohiym, to comfort all that mourn” will take place at his second coming on Yom Kippur after his seven-day marriage with his bride (typified in Leah). Atthe end of that week, he will also marry Rachel (the House of Judah). We see the same pattern in the account in Genesis when Jacob was first married to Leah but on that night he was told by Laban that he would be given Rachel after he “fulfilled the week” with Leah. This week is none other than the last week between the Feast of Trumpets & the Day of Atonement. During the ten days between these two feasts called “The Ten Days of Awe,” our Messiah will fulfill the pattern of Jacob marrying two brides (Leah & Rachel). Leah is symbolic of born-again Jews & Gentiles and Rachel represents the non-converted Jews who are sealed in the foreheads (Revelation 7, Ezekiel 9) but they do not accept him until he returns in Zechariah 12:10.
The Yom Kippur 40 Year Miracle
In the centuries following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (70 C.E.), the Jewish people began writing two versions of Jewish thought, religious history and commentary. One was written in Palestine and became known as the Jerusalem Talmud. The other was written in Babylon and was known as the Babylonian Talmud.
We read in the Jerusalem Talmud:
“Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for YHWH always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open” (Jacob Neusner, The Yerushalmi, p.156-157). [the Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E.]
A similar passage in the Babylonian Talmud states:
“Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot [‘For the Lord’] did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-colored strap become white; nor did the western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would open by themselves” (Soncino version, Yoma 39b).
What are these passages talking about? Since both Talmuds recount the same information, this indicates the knowledge of these events was accepted by the widespread Jewish community.
The Miracle of the “Lot”
The first of these miracles concerns a random choosing of the “lot” which was cast on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). The lot chosen determined which of two goats would be “for the YHWH” and which goat would be the “Azazel” or “scapegoat.” During the two hundred years before 30 C.E., when the High Priest picked one of two stones, again this selection was governed by chance, and each year the priest would select a black stone as often as a white stone. But for forty years in a row, beginning in 30 C.E., the High Priest always picked the black stone! The odds against this happening are astronomical (2 to the 40th power). In other words, the chances of this occurring are 1 in approximately 5, 479, 548, 800 or about 5.5 billion to one! By comparison, your chances of winning your local state or municipal-run cash Lottery would be much more favorable!
The lot for Azazel, the black stone, contrary to all the laws of chance, came up 40 times in a row from 30 to 70 AD! This was considered a dire event and signified something had fundamentally changed in this Yom Kippur ritual. This casting of lots is also accompanied by yet another miracle which is described next.
The priests would also take a red ribbon (symbolizing sin) and tie half around the horn of the scapegoat and tie the other half to the temple door. The scapegoat bore the sins of the nation of Yisra’el. If YaHuWaH forgave them of their sins, the red ribbon on the temple door would miraculously turn white. This was done in front of a large crowd to show them they had Elohiym’s favor:
YeshaYaHuW (Isaiah) 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says YHWH. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Since 30 A.D., the ribbon stopped turning white as snow; this is also recorded in the Talmud:
Yoma 39b “Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot [‘For YHWH’] did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-colored strap become white; nor did the western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would open by themselves.”
There is only one possible explanation for this:
Because YaHuW’shuwa ha’Mashiyach was the perfect sin sacrifice who died in 30 A.D!
Ibriym (Hebrews) 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Only His blood can truly atone for our sins and once He paid that price, animal sacrifice was worthless.
Ibriym (Hebrews) 10:4-6 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure.
This was all done as a rehearsal for things to come, so Yisra’el would recognize the true Messiah when He came.
YeshaYaHuW (Isaiah) 1:11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? says YHWH: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
Another thing that is recorded in the Talmud is this historical mystery of the temple doors. The doors to the temple would swing open by themselves starting in 30 A.D. recorded in the Talmud:
Sota 6:3 Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, ‘O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, ‘Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedar.
Lastly, the most important Menorah Lamp that was to remain lit at all times kept going out on its own accord. The priests went to all measures to insure it would stay lit but much to their futile efforts, the menorah kept going out. YaHuW’shuwa died for our sins and just like the book of Hebrews tells us, the priesthood changed.
Messiah is now our High Priest and has given us access to the Father. It is also significant that the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D, exactly 40 years after YaHuW’shuwa’s death. YaHuWaH gave Yisra’el 40 years to repent of their sins and to accept YaHuW’shuwa as their Messiah. And when they did not, (in spite of all the signs he gave them), their probationary period ended in 70 A.D. and their temple and city was destroyed just as YaHuW’shuwa prophesied.
Earnest Martin states:
“In fact, we are told in the Talmud that at dusk the lamps that were unlit in the daytime (the middle four lamps remained unlit, while the two eastern lamps normally stayed lit during the day) were to be re-lit from the flames of the western lamp (which was a lamp that was supposed to stay lit all the time it was like the ‘eternal’ flame that we see today in some national monuments)...”
“…This ‘western lamp’ was to be kept lit at all times. For that reason, the priests kept extra reservoirs of olive oil and other implements in ready supply to make sure that the ‘western lamp’ (under all circumstances) would stay lit. But what happened in the forty years from the very year Messiah said the physical Temple would be destroyed? Every night for forty years the western lamp went out, and this in spite of the priests each evening preparing in a special way the western lamp so that it would remain constantly burning all night!” (The Significance of the Year C.E. 30, Ernest Martin, Research Update, April 1994, p.4).
Had the Jewish Sanhedrin as a nation accepted his atonement, the “evening and morning oblations” would have then been done as an act of worship that would’ve been acceptable before YaHuWaH. They would’ve done these as a “memorial” of his death burial and resurrection and not as a substitute for sin. You see, the sin offering is different than the morning and evening sacrifices which are not performed for sin. They are performed as an act of worship. But YaHuWaH no longer accepted their act of worship in the temple because they rejected Messiah as the Passover Lamb.
YaHuW’shuwa therefore is the one who caused the sacrifice and oblation to “cease” to be “acceptable” to YaHuWaH. YaHuW’shuwa’s sacrifice was not only that of the Passover Lamb, but he was also the sacrifice of the “Red Heifer”:
Bemidbar (Numbers) 19:2 This is the ordinance of the law which YHWH has commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Yisra’el, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:
The sacrifice of the red heifer is for the cleansing of the temple, and it is the only sacrifice which is done “outside” of the camp of the city of Jerusalem and not inside of the temple. Ideally, the red heifer had to be 3.5 years old and we know that YaHuW’shuwa had a ministry that lasted for 3.5 years. How do we know that his ministry lasted 3.5 years? We know because Daniel’s 70th Week is a “seven-year” period and we are told that Messiah was “cut off” and “in the midst of the week” that he cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease” (Daniel 9:25-27).
The term “cut off” in Hebrew is the following word:
#3772 karath kaw-rath’ a primitive root; to cut (off, down or asunder); by imply-cation, to destroy or consume; specifically, to covenant (i.e. make an alliance or bargain, originally by cutting flesh and passing between the pieces):--be chewed, be con-(feder-)ate, covenant, cut (down, off), destroy, fail, feller, be freed, hew (down), make a league (covenant).
As you can see here the word for “cut off” also means “passing between the two pieces” to establish a covenant! When was the first time that this happened in scripture? In Genesis 15:17 we see Abraham entering into a Covenant with YaHuWaH and he “passed between the pieces.”
We are starting to get the picture now of what Daniel 9:24-27 is talking about! I believe we are seeing “the Red Heifer” for Leah and “the Twin Goats” on Yom Kippur for Rachel. The Passover Lamb sacrifice and the Yom Kippur sacrifices were fulfilled in that first 3.5 years of Messiah’s ministry.
Now many theologians assume that when Daniel 9:27 states “and he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease,” that this is talking about the Anti-Messiah.
But this prophecy is actually talking about both the true Messiah YaHuW’shuwa who spoke the prophetic word to cause Jerusalem to become desolate. But this phrase also points to the Anti-Messiah who will be used to implement the prophecy!
We find the same concept with the crucifixion. We read that Satan and his princes “crucified the Lord of glory” (2nd Corinthians 2:8). But we also read that it “pleased YHWH to bruise” his son (Isaiah 53:10). So who actually crucified the Messiah? Was it the Heavenly Father or was it Satan? It was both! It was the will of the Heavenly Father to crucify the Messiah, but he used Satan to bring it to pass! In the same way, Daniel 9:27 is telling us that the Messiah himself caused the sacrifices and oblations to cease, but he used Nero Caesar to bring it to pass! And he will allow it to happen again in the last days through the final “man of sin.”
You see, first we have the real Messiah who “caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease” when he spoke that prophetic word rendering Jerusalem desolate. But he caused Nero Caesar (an Anti-Messiah leader) to make that happen in 70 A.D.!
And then in the last days when this prophecy picks up where it left off (for the last 3.5 years) the Anti-Messiah does the same thing as he tries to mimic the true Messiah! So you see there is the true Messiah who caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease but he used the false Messiah to implement his prophetic word and he will do it again in the latter half of “Daniel’s 70th Week.”
In the last days when the final Anti-Messiah shows up in the Temple, he will cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease again! We see that this will happen in Daniel 12:11 with the false Messiah.
Messiah was “cut off” in the midst of the literal “week” (Passover week) as well as the last seven years spoken of by Daniel 9:26-27. Do you the story of Ya’aqob (Jacob)? Jacob loved only one woman---Rachel. But he was tricked into marrying Leah (her older sister). When he discovered that he had married Leah after the wedding night was over, he confronted Laban (his father in law) and asked him “why did you trick me?”
And Laban replied:
Bereshiyth (Genesis) 29:
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give you this also for the service which you shall serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Ya’aqob (Jacob) did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
What we see here is a pattern of YaHuW’shuwa working for “one week” for his beloved Rachel (representing the House of Judah), but he did not get what he had worked for:
YaHuW’chanon (John) 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
YaHuW’shuwa came the first time for his beloved Rachel (the House of Judah) and the lost sheep who had been divorced and scattered from the House of Yisra’el. But they did not receive him.
That is when the gospel was extended to the Gentiles and then he was given in marriage first to the “Gentiles” who were then “grafted into the olive tree” with Yisra’el. These became known as “New Covenant Yisra’elites” and they are symbolic of Leah and her ten sons. What is interesting is that the name “Leah” means “cow” in Hebrew. But Rachel means “lamb” in Hebrew.
YaHuW’shuwa was the Passover Lamb for Rachel but he was also the Red Heifer for Leah!
The divorced wife (ten lost tribes known as gentiles) were not allowed to “come near” to the altar in the temple, but they had to remain “outside” and that is why YaHuW’shuwa died as the Red Heifer, “outside of the camp” in order to redeem the lost sheep of Yisra’el who were “afar off.” Ten out of twelve tribes had been divorced and sent away to the nations, but now because of his blood sacrifice, they were being brought “near” again (Ephesians 2:17).
The Witness of “Three” in Daniel’s 70 Week Prophecy
In 2nd Keefa (Peter) 3:8 we are told that “one day is like a thousand years to YHWH, and one thousand years is like one day.” We also find out that in Daniel 9:24-27 the Hebrew word being used here for “week” is “shabuwah” which means “sevened.” This means that any time period that is divisible by the number seven is a “shabuwah.” Thus we can apply the prophetic word here for “week” in Daniel 9:27 to mean more than just a literal seven-day calendar week. We can also apply it to mean any unit of measure that is divisible by “seven”such as “seven years.”
Since Elohiym created the earth in six days, and he rested on the seventh day, we know that there will be 6,000 biblical years from creation before Messiah returns to set up his kingdom in the “Sabbath Millennium.” When we look at this 7,000 year “week” our Messiah, YaHuW’shuwa came to earth in human form during the “4thMillennium” (the middle of the week). This is one layer of understanding of this prophecy. We can also see that Messiah died “in the middle of the week” (Passover week on Wednesday). And he also died in the middle of “Daniel’s 70th Week” (in the middle of the last 7 years of this prophecy). Hence Messiah died “in the midst of the week, within the week, within the week.”
7,000 years = Messiah died in the 4th Millennium from creation (in the midst of the week of 7 Millennia).
7 years = Messiah died in the middle of a 7 year ministry of working for Rachel (like Jacob). His ministry was 3.5 years, and his “Two Witnesses” in Revelation 11 will pick up where he left off with a 3.5 year ministry (1,260 days). They will finish out the 7 year ministry of working for Rachel.
7 days = Messiah died in the middle of Passover Week on the 4th day of the week (Wednesday).
Hence the 7th Day Sabbath Points to our Messiah YaHuW’shuwa!
YaHuW’shuwa made the sacrifice and oblation “acceptable” to YaHuWaH. But since the House of Judah rejected his atonement, he could not “proclaim the acceptable year of YHWH” on Yom Kippur from the year of his crucifixion in 30 A.D., and moving forward up until 70 A.D. They continued to perform the evening and morning sacrifices right up until 70 A.D. But YaHuWaH did not recognize their “vain oblations.” What does the word “vain” mean in Hebrew? It means “empty, worthless, false meaningless.”
YeshaYaHuW (Isaiah) 1:13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
Yah was already showing them that he would not accept their sacrifices of worship because they rejected his blood atonement. Isaiah prophesied about the day when Jerusalem would see her final destruction in the Roman Siege:
7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8 And the daughter of Tziyown (Zion) is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? says YHWH: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
For 40 consecutive years between 30 A.D., and 70 A.D., the Jewish Talmud says that the stone “failed” or “ceased” to turn from black to white and the ribbon “failed” or “ceased” to turn from red to white on Yom Kippur. And so the sacrifices on Yom Kippur “failed” or ceased to be recognized as an acceptable sin offering, because they had to accept Messiah’s sacrifice in order for it to be acceptable. How do we know this?
What is the “acceptable year of YHWH”? It is once a year on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) when the scape goat is sent into the wilderness, that the children of Yisra’el find out if their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. If the sins of the nation were forgiven, Yah declared to them “the acceptable year of YHWH.” But if their sins as a nation were not forgiven, then they were not “acceptable” to YaHuWaH, and they had another year to get it right (Isaiah 61:2 & Luke 4:19).
YaHuW’shuwa declared this in the temple on Yom Kippur in 27 A.D., at the beginning of his ministry (after his 40 day fast in the wilderness).
See my other articles entitled:
It was at this time that he fulfilled the pattern of the scapegoat. As the sacrificial goat, his legal moment of death was his baptism. That is why YaHuW’chanon the Immerser (John the Baptist) declared that he was the “Lamb of Elohiym who takes away the sin of the world.” Now, if he took their sins away for that year, then why did he still judge them as a nation 40 years later in the Roman Siege?
Well first of all, we must realize that the atonement is only applied to those who repent and “accept” his blood atonement for their sins. On the whole as a nation, the Jewish Sanhedrin had a forty-year probationary period whereby they could accept him as the sacrificial lamb, but they refused as a nation to receive him as the Messiah. There were many Jewish believers (the remnant of the House of Judah) who did indeed believe on him as the Messiah, and they did receive atonement for their sins. But on the whole as a nation, the “establishment” of the Jewish religion and government did not.
We can show through scripture that YaHuW’shuwa fulfilled an intermediary fulfillment of the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur by being baptized 40 days prior and then he was led by the Holy Spirit to be tested on our behalf. In other words, during the 40 days of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), YaHuW’shuwa was being tempted for our sakes so that he could act as our intercessor to help us overcome sin. Not that he needed to overcome sin, but he stood in the gap for us! His departure into the wilderness was a picture of “the old sinful man” dying and when he emerged from the wilderness that was a picture of “the new man” resurrecting and overcoming sin!
YaHuW’shuwa fasted and prayed “a day for each year” for Yisra’el’s rebellion, just like Ezekiel!
YaHuW’shuwa fasted for 40 days to fulfill the 40 years that Judah rejected him between 30 A.D. until 70 A.D. when he destroyed the Temple. Just like Ezekiel, he bore the iniquity for the house of YaHuW’dah (Judah) a day for each year.
Yechezqel (Ezekiel) 4:
6 And when you have accomplished them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of YaHuW’dah (Judah) forty days: I have appointed you each day for a year.
7 Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), and your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it.
8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon you, and you shall not turn you from one side to another, till you have ended the days of your siege.
YaHuW’shuwa fasted one day for each year just like Ezekiel, and then he prophesied against Jerusalem that their generation would be destroyed 40 years later in the Roman Siege!
MattithYaHuW (Matthew) 23:36-38 “O Yerushalayim...behold your house is left to you desolate.”
What did YaHuW’shuwa do when he returned out of the wilderness? He displayed the role of the scapegoat going to the wilderness, never to return. In other words, the sins of Yisra’el he bore himself “never to be remembered”!
But he also displayed the role of the sacrificial lamb at his baptism because YaHuW’chanon (John) called him “the Lamb of Elohiym that takes away the sin of the world…”
And so YaHuW’shuwa fulfilled both the sacrificial lamb and the scapegoat during the 40 days of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur!
YaHuW’shuwa is the one who would make their sacrifices of worship either “acceptable” or “not acceptable.” If their sins were forgiven as a nation, and their sins washed by the blood of the lamb, then Yah would have accepted their evening and morning oblations of worship. But because their sins remained for rejecting his sacrifice, hence their oblations and sacrifices were unacceptable to him!
Therefore it is not the Anti-Messiah who “confirms” the covenant, because the word here for “covenant” in Daniel 9:27 in Hebrew is:
#1285 briyth ber-eeth’ from #1262: in the sense of cutting.
It was YaHuW’shuwa who “confirmed the covenant with many” on the night before his crucifixion when he said “this is the blood of my covenant shed for MANY.”
Briyth is a word that means to “cut” or to circumcise. This is the same covenant that Elohiym made with Abraham and YaHuW’shuwa “confirmed” or sealed this same covenant with his own blood. In order to “confirm” a covenant there has to be one in place already. Further-more the King James Version says “the covenant” indicating that this was “the” one and only covenant. It was not just any old covenant. All other modern translations say “a covenant” implying that it was “any old covenant.” But no place elsewhere in scripture do we find that the Anti-Messiah “confirms” a covenant for one week. We must have the witness of “two or three” elsewhere in scripture to make a doctrine out of this idea of a “seven year tribulation.” And yet Theologians build a doctrine around this idea that the Anti-Messiah forms a seven-year peace treaty based solely on Daniel 9:27 without any corroboration from other scriptures.
It is “the one & only covenant” that Elohiym made with Abraham which is “confirmed” for one week (Passover Week) by YaHuW’shuwa and also during the remainder of the entire seven years of “Jacob’s Trouble.” Jacob worked for Rachel for seven years, just as YaHuW’shuwa will work for his beloved for a total of “seven years.” But YaHuW’shuwa already fulfilled the first half of these seven years at his first coming.
But just before his return his two witnesses will fulfill the latter half of his 3.5 year ministry to “finish the week.” The “two witnesses” are not merely two individuals, but they are a corporate body of believers called the “man-child” (Revelation 12:5). In Revelation 11:4 they are described as “two olive trees and two candlesticks.”
This is none other than “the two houses of Yisra’el” (Ephrayim & Judah) and “two candle-sticks” (Smyrna & Philadelphia). This corporate group of people called the “two witnesses” will then become “born” into incorruption as the “man-child.” YaHuW’shuwa is the first fulfillment of this as he will rule all nations with a rod of iron. But then his body of believers will follow the same pattern as he did. This corporate “man-child” will be “caught up unto Elohiym” and to his throne before returning on Yom Kippur for the “day of vengeance” (Revelation 19). This corporate man-child shall also “rule and reign with him for a thousand years” with a rod of iron (Revelation 20:4).
A rod of wood (stick) can be burned and is corruptible, but a rod of iron is incorruptible and indestructible. This means that the rod made of wood (the branches) were of human or corruptible seed, but when we put on incorruption (the rod) becomes made of iron (incorruptible) rather than a corruptible form.
This “corporate man-child” is none other than what the Apostle Sha’ul (Paul) talked about when he said that both Jewish & Gentile believers would come together as “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15-18). This corporate man-child called the “two witnesses” will carry the anointing of Mosheh & EliYaHuW (Moses & Elijah). This is what is known as the “double portion anointing,” because they walk in the fullness of the Torah (Mosaic Law) and the Spirit (the spirit of Elijah). These two groups of people are the “two sticks” of Ephrayim & Judah coming together as one stick in the hand of YaHuWaH when Messiah returns (Ezekiel 37:16-17).
When this corporate “body of Messiah” (the man-child) fulfills the latter half of “Daniel’s 70th Week” with a 3.5 year ministry that is when they will be “caught up” immediately after the tribulation with a great sound of a trumpet! (Matthew 24:19-31, Revelation 11:15).
Jacob-Yisra’el is a prophetic picture of the Messiah YaHuW’shuwa. The “man-child” (the corporate body of believers) represents the ones who will be born from the “woman” (Old Covenant Yisra’el). When this man-child (the two witnesses) complete the latter half of YaHuW’shuwa’s “seven years” of working for Rachel (symbolic of the two southern tribes of Judah) then Jacob’s Time of Trouble will be complete. At this point, YaHuW’shuwa will have already won Leah (the ten tribes of Yisra’el and their gentile companions from the nations) and then he will also be married to Rachel (Bethlehem-Judah) and together they will become “one stick” in in the hand of YaHuWaH on Yom Kippur when Messiah returns in Revelation 19. You may be asking “how do I assimilate Rachel to Judah (Jews), when it was Leah who gave birth to Judah---not Rachel”?
The answer to that is quite simple. First of all in Genesis 37:9, we find out that Joseph (a type of Messiah) had a dream that his eleven brothers, would all bow down to him and serve him. This is a prophetic picture of the end-times when Joseph’s House (ruled by his youngest son Ephrayim) will end up ruling over the entire House of Yisra’el (the twelve tribes). This is how Rachel ends up becoming Judah and Leah ends up becoming Ephrayim! The families switch places in order to become one house!
In 1st Kings 12 we read about the fact that the “Twelve Tribes of Yisra’el” split up and became two separate nations after King Solomon died. Two of these tribes remained in Jerusalem and the surrounding cities of Judah. These two tribes were Judah & Benjamin and they became known as the “Two Southern Tribes of Judah.”
The other ten of tribes were given a divorce decree by YaHuWaH (see Jeremiah 3:8) because of their idolatry. They were scattered to the surrounding nations and became known as “Gentiles.” They are to this day known as the “Ten Northern Tribes of Ephrayim.” Since Rachel had two children, she is a picture of the Two Southern Tribes of Judah. And since Leah had ten sons (including the sons she acquired by her maids), she symbolizes Ten Northern Tribes of Ephrayim.
Even though Leah was the mother of Judah, and Rachel was the mother of Joseph, the families end up in the last days “switching places” and they become so fully intermingled with one another, that they end up as “one stick” in the hand of YaHuWaH (Ezekiel 37:16-17). That is why Ya’aqob (Jacob) crossed his hands over in Genesis 48:18-19 when blessing Joseph’s two sons Ephrayim & Manasseh.
We can see this concept in a parable YaHuW’shuwa spoke to us:
MattithYaHuW (Matthew) 13:33 Another parable spoke he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
What we see here is that the leaven is likened unto the Kingdom of Heaven which YaHuW’shuwa establishes in his Millennial Reign when he returns. The woman is a metaphor of Yisra’el, and she mixes “three measures of meal” (symbolic of Ephrayim, Judah & the nations) with the leaven (symbolic of Abraham’s seed) until all three people groups are leavened fully and saturated into the ball of dough (the world).
What does this mean? It means that Yah has allowed the ten northern tribes to scatter into all nations so that their “seed” would be like leaven (the promise of Messiah’s kingdom). And the “seed” of Abraham would then be sown into the nations until the entire world would be like a ball of dough fully mixed in with the seed of Abraham, and thereby produce “many nations.”
And so the two families end up trading places with each other until they become no more different from one another! In other words “neither Jew nor Gentile” (Galatians 3:28) as they will all become ONE HOUSE in Messiah!
Here we see a prophecy where Rachel is being likened unto Bethlehem-Judah:
MattithYaHuW (Matthew) 2:
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by YirmeYaHuW (Jeremiah) the prophet, saying,
18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
As we can see from the above verse, the House Judah (Bethlehem) is seen here as a metaphor of Rachel. Why? It is because of what I just illustrated. Rachel ends up becoming known as the House of Judah and Leah ends up becoming the House of Ephrayim! They switch places! Rachel’s son Joseph ends up ruling over Leah’s sons through his son Ephrayim!
And so by understanding that the House of Judah is typified in Rachel, we can see that it was the true Messiah YaHuW’shuwa (not some Antichrist leader) who fulfills a “seven-year” ministry (3.5 years at his first coming) and then another 3.5 years through his two witnesses just before his second coming for a total of 7 years.
How Long Was Jacob’s Trouble?
We read in Genesis 28-31 that Jacob agreed to work for “seven years” for his beloved Rachel, but then he was tricked by his father-in-law Laban and he ended up with Leah instead on the wedding night. Laban then asked Jacob to “fulfill her week” (Leah’s) and he promised to let Jacob have Rachel at the end of the “week.” But Laban also asked Jacob to commit to seven more years of working for Rachel. Jacob agreed and so he got to marry both women in the same week but he also had to work for a total of 14 years for Rachel! He also agreed to work 6 years for Laban’s cattle for a total of 20 years. But in the theme of prophecy, when looking at the marriage supper of the lamb, we have to see Jacob as a prophetic “type”of our Messiah who will marry two brides in the same week between the Feast of Trumpets & the Day of Atonement. This period is called “The Ten Days of Awe.” In the final ten days leading up to Yom Kippur just before the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19, our Messiah will bring two groups of people together to form “one bride.” The first bride typified in Leah will be taken up to Mount Zion in Heaven for a 7-day wedding and she will return with the bridegroom on white horses on Yom Kippur.Then, the second bride typified in Rachel will be those who had to “suffer tribulation for ten days” (Revelation 2:10)during those ten days between the Feast of Trumpets & the Day of Atonement. Then on Yom Kippur (Atonement) both brides are made into “one bride” as the High Priest’s duty on Yom Kippur according to Leviticus 16 is to combine the blood of the heifer or bull (symbolic of Leah & Ephrayim) with the blood of the goat or lamb (symbolic of Rachel & Judah). And thus the blood of these two families will be combined to become one family.
Now when we divide those 14 years into 4 fulfillments we get:
14 ÷ 4 = 3.5 years each!
This means that we have the first fulfillment with the Maccabean Revolt for 3.5 years of “trouble.” Then we have Messiah’s 3.5 year ministry (more trouble). Then we have the third fulfillment with 3.5 years of “trouble” leading up the Roman Siege in 70 A.D. And finally we will have the fourth fulfillment of a “time of trouble” with the two witnesses in Revelation 11.
Just as Jacob ended up with Leah instead of Rachel at the end of those seven years, the same thing will happen with our Messiah. After his seven-year ministry is completed through his two witnesses, Messiah returns, and he first gets married to a corporate bride typified in Leah as “born-again” believers (Jews & Gentiles). Leah was “buried” with her husband Jacob (Genesis 49:31) but Rachel was not. This symbolizes the fact that the born-again believers are “buried in baptism” with their Messiah! But the other group symbolized by Rachel will not “see” their Messiah until he returns in Zechariah 12:10.
In the same way that Jacob agreed to work for an additional seven years for Rachel, there will be “seven years” of burning weapons when Messiah returns (Ezekiel 39:9). And this will be likened unto the total of 14 years that Jacob worked for Rachel.
YaHuW’shuwa is the one who began to confirm this one and only covenant with all of Yisra’el until “in the midst of the week........ he was cut off” (Daniel 9:25).
But Messiah’s covenant continues to be confirmed when the third Jewish Temple is seen once again right up until the “Abomination of Desolation” is then set up.
When this happens, the prophetic time clock of Daniel’s Seventieth Week will once again begin to tick. And from this point on, the “two witnesses” will have a corporate ministry that duplicates YaHuW’shuwa Messiah’s ministry for 3.5 years (Revelation 11:4). Concurrently, the Anti-Messiah will have a false ministry of blasphemy for 42 months (Revelation 13:5).
In Revelation 11:14 the two witnesses will “prophesy for 1,260 days” just like the prophet EliYaHuW (Elijah) did.
But in Daniel 12:11, we see the angel telling Daniel that from the time that “the daily sacrifices are taken away” by the false Messiah and the “abomination of desolation is set up, it will be 1,290 days.” Why is there an additional 30 days mentioned here?
A Future Fulfillment of Chanukkah?
Did you ever wonder why the period called “the Great Tribulation” is 1,260 days in Revelation 11:3 but then in Daniel 12:11 it says “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days” (1,290 days). Why the 30-day discrepancy? Well the tribulation period of 1,260 days ends on Yom Kippur in Revelation 19 when our Messiah returns with his army to overthrow the Anti-Messiah. But then there will be another 30 days after that to destroy the Abomination of Desolation. When our Messiah returns there will be a war just like in the Maccabean Revolt where he will be like Judah Maccabees and his army. The armies that follow YaHuW’shuwa at his return are “clothed in fine linen fine and clean” and this is his bride in her new resurrected body! The bride will fight alongside with him to take back the temple of YaHuWaH and overthrow the false Messiah and his Abomination of Desolation!
If you add 75 days to 1,260 days (which culminates on Yom Kippur), it lands on the 25th day of the 9th month of Kislev on the Hebrew Calendar---in other words Chanukkah!
Listen to what the angel said in Daniel 12:12 “Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days” (1,335 days).
The angel was telling Daniel “blessed is he who waits until Chanukkah when the Temple and the altar of YaHuWShuWA will be rebuilt and dedicated!”
It will take 75 days to destroy the old temple where the Abomination of Desolation, was sitting and also to rebuild the new one where our Messiah will rule and reign for 1,000 years! This dedication will take place on Chanukkah because it is 75 days following Yom Kippur---in other words 1,335 days!
Who Confirms the Covenant?
Why do so many theologians believe that the “he” in Daniel 9:27 is talking about the Anti-Messiah? They take this verse and they somehow extract the “prince” as being the Anti-Messiah who was General Titus ruled under Nero Caesar the Roman Prince:
Daniel 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
You will notice in the above verse that there are only two subjects in this verse. Who are they? They are “Messiah the prince” and “the people.” Often times people make the mistake of treating “the prince” who rules over the people as the subject. But this defies the rules of English grammar. The “prince” is just describing who “the people” belong to. “The people of the prince” would be describing “they” not “he.” Therefore, the “he” in Daniel 9:27 cannot be describing a group of people from the prince! The “he” in Daniel 9:27 can only be referring to the last “he” spoken of in Daniel 9:26 which is “Messiah!”
It is obvious that “the people” are the armies of General Titus, when Rome came to destroy Jerusalem in 70 A.D. In historical accounts from Josephus and others we are told that the Romans placed huge boulders at all of the gates of the city blocking it up and then they flooded the entire city. After a 3.5 year tribulation period and a war between Rome and Jerusalem, the final desolation had already been determined against Jerusalem out of the mouth of our Messiah himself.
So let us hear the conclusion of the matter:
1.) There is no other place in scripture describing a seven-year peace treaty or a covenant being confirmed by an Anti-Messiah and we cannot build a doctrine around one isolated verse of scripture that is vague.
2.) The is only “one covenant” spoken of all throughout scripture, which binds the other intermediate covenants together, and that is the one and only covenant Elohiym made with Abraham. It is this very same covenant which is being referred to as “the covenant” not just “a covenant.”
3.) The Hebrew word in Daniel 9:27 here for “covenant” is briyth which means “to cut or to circumcise” and we see this happening with the covenant Elohiym made with Abraham. This is not the same thing as a peace treaty on paper.
4.) English Grammar would necessitate that we apply the word “he” to the last subject spoken of which is Messiah in Daniel 9:26. The people are a “they” not a “he” and the “people of the prince” describes the people who come from the prince (Nero Caesar), therefore the subject is “the people.”
5.) It is YaHuW’shuwa who declared that Jerusalem would become “desolate” as he echoed the prophecies in the 1st Chapter of Isaiah. Therefore, the Anti-Messiah has no power to make Jerusalem desolate. The desolation comes because of Messiahs’s prophetic word and it is he who uses the false Messiah to make them desolate until his second coming when he “consummates” the marriage with his bride.
6.) YaHuW’shuwa said the night before his crucifixion that he was confirming his covenant “with many” and this is perfectly in line with Daniel 9:27 where it says “and he shall confirm the covenant with many. “
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